THE BG NEWS
ESTABLISHED 1920 | An independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community Monday, November 7 & Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Volume 91, Issue 34
www.bgnews.com
Charity gains participants for 3-day bike trip By Brian Bohnert Reporter
Students signed up Sunday to embark on a 180-mile, three-day bike trip from Fenwick High School in Franklin, Ohio to Portage, Ohio, and back to Bowling Green in just three days in March. And, it’s all for the good of the kids. “Bike for Tikes” is a charity event sponsored by Dance Marathon where everyone interested in riding for a cause can hop on their bicycles and brave both the terrain and the weather to help raise money for a select group of children with special needs at Toledo Mercy Children’s Hospital. Last year, 131 riders were allowed to participate for liability reasons, but Bike for Tikes Chair Ryan
Gordon said that this year he hopes to greatly exceed that number. “We passed out 150 sign-up forms so far, so we know we’ll have at least 150 people signed-up,” Gordon said. Aside from beating the participant record from last year, Drees said the Bike for Tikes committee also raised the expected goal for the amount of money being raised this time around. “Last year we raised $65,794.45 and our goal was $50,000,” Drees said. “This year we raised our goal to $75,000 and we think we might even exceed that.” The Bike for Tikes sign-up event was Sunday afternoon in the Union. Drees said anyone who signed up this year or plans to next year must
“That was the biggest thing for me ... All of our families are there crying and cheering for us as we roll into Portage as one big unit.” Tyler Drees | Core Committee Member
bring a $25 registration fee and medical insurance information in order to be eligible to ride. The ride starts March 29, and it ends with a celebration at Dance Marathon, in the Student Recreation Center at the end of the weekend on April 1. Core Committee Member Tyler Drees said each of the three days consists of a 60-mile stretch of biking beginning at 7 a.m. and lasting into the early evening.
“It goes until the last one makes it through,” Drees said. “It usually ends up being about 6:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. but we do stop for a break every 10-12 miles so the riders can grab a snack, use the restroom or even just rest up.” Each of the day’s rides will end with overnight stops in St. Paris and Ada, Ohio. The third day of the ride will culminate with a stop in Portage, Ohio where riders will be met by family,
friends and the children who are receiving help through the charity. “That was the biggest thing for me … All of our families are there crying and cheering for us as we roll into Portage as one big unit,” Drees said. Drees said this is his second year riding for the cause. “To me, it’s very personal because I have a two-year-old brother,” Drees said. “He doesn’t have any conditions but if he did, this would help him out a lot.” During his first ride, he said he really began to feel the physical effects of what constant riding can do; though, despite all of the
See BIKE | Page 2
Students avoid losing votes by understanding where to vote in city divided by wards, precincts Compiled by Bobby Waddle In Focus Editor
Students looking to cast their votes in Tuesday’s election need to know where to go to make a difference. Terry Burton, deputy director of the Wood County Board of Elections, said the county is divided geographically into precincts by the four-member board in each county, which is composed of two Democrats and two Republicans. Burton said the Board tries to make t h e precincts adhere to the city ward lines to try and ensure that people of similar groups vote together.
CAMPUS BRIEF
Silk Soy Milk creator comes back to campus, meets with students
Steve Demos, a 1970 University alumnus and founder of Silk soymilk, visits campus Monday and Tuesday. All students are invited to join a conversation with Demos at 4:30 p.m. Monday, in the Union. He will run a daylong workshop Tuesday to bring together students on campus to focus on creating positive change in the world. To participate in the workshop, students needed to submit an application that was due on Friday. Demos has won several honors for his work, including being named to Inc., Magazine’s 2001 list of the top 500 fastest-growing companies in America. He has been featured on the cover of The Wall Street Journal, as well as in Forbes Small Business, USA Today, CNN Financial News and Success Magazine. After graduating in 1970 he started a natural nut butter company called Naturally Nuts and operated a retail vegetarian deli called The Cow of China. In 1977 he found his passion in his apartment kitchen where he made his first batch of tofu using $500 he borrowed from a neighbor to start his company, White Wave Tofu. For the next 20 years the company made various soy-based products, and is now the largest soy foods and soymilk company in the world. Its Silk brand soymilk is the number one
soymilk in America, and more than 96 percent of the country’s supermarkets carry White Wave products, according to a Centennial Alumni Awards article at www.bgsu.edu. For more information, see http://goo. gl/29ZWX.
Blood Bowl versus University of Toledo begins
The 10th annual Blood Bowl versus University of Toledo is this week to determine which student body can donate more blood. The Blood Drive, which is hosted by the American Red Cross, runs from Monday to Thursday. Hours to donate are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Union Multi-Purpose room. Everyone who comes to give blood will receive a Blood Bowl T-shirt. Volunteers are needed throughout the week to work the drive. If you are interested, contact Kimberly Zaccaro at kzaccar@falcon.bgsu.edu. If you are interested in giving blood, sign up at www.redcrossblood.org and enter sponsor code: BGSU to schedule your appointment or call 1-800-RED CROSS. BGSU won the competition last year with a 3.4 percent of its student body donating while UT had 2.5 percent. BGSU received a trophy for the victory, which will go to whichever school wins this year. The University has defeated UT in the Blood Bowl in seven of nine past competitions. This year’s drive at University of Toledo’s was Oct. 24-27.
CAMPUS Dance Marathon on the way The annual campus charity organization begins its planning for the 2012 event. Dance Marathon sets goals to exceed previous year’s earnings | Page 9
ELECTIONS 101
See VOTE | Page 3
KNOW YOUR ISSUES:
PART 4 OF A 4-PART SERIES
This week The BG News will explain the three issues and one levy on this year’s Ohio ballot, so you’re informed when you head to the polls Nov. 8.
FIRST WARD FACE OFF
In preparation for the Nov. 8 election, The BG News questioned the candidates running for the 1st Ward, which is where most students live.
SENIOR CITIZENS LEVY BASIC FACTS
IF YOU COULD BE ANY ANIMAL, WHICH WOULD YOU BE AND WHY? Daniel Mark Gordon Hollenbaugh Challenger
“We also try to consider school district lines, city lines and things like that,” Burton said. On-campus students will be voting in two different wards, 1st Ward and 3rd Ward. Burton said this is because of a case in Student Legal Services several years ago, where it was argued the number of students gave the 1st Ward a larger number of voters than the other three. “What came out of the case was a requirement that the city re-look at their ward lines,” Burton said. “When they did, they basically drew that far eastern part of campus into the 3rd Ward of the city.”
This levy is for a proposed renewal of a tax for the benefit of Wood County for “providing or maintaining senior citizen services or facilities by the Wood County Committee on Aging.”
Incumbent
If approved:
■■ An extra .7 mills or seven cents for every
“I’m a big animal lover, so this is hard. But if I could be any animal, I think I’d be a shark. I’ve collected shark teeth since I was little. They’re truly amazing creatures. They fear nothing; aside from us, they have no real predators to face. They’re the dominant species in the seas, perfectly evolved and adapted. They’re somewhat rare, and yet they’re found all over the Earth, even as far north as the arctic. They also can’t swim backward; they’re always moving forward. And I’ve always loved the oceans.”
FORUM Issue 2, both perspectives
Between two guest columnists, both the YES and NO sides of issue 2 are shown in today’s Forum. If you’ve missed the previous columnists, get both sides now | Page 5
“This is quite possibly the most difficult of the questions, because it is not based on a matter of policy or principle. The obvious temptation is to over think the question and try to find some kind of political advantage in the choice. Picking a falcon would be a blatant attempt at trying to gain favor, as it is the school mascot, so I won’t do that. Next, I thought about an elephant because they are large, fearless, and have great memories. However the elephant is the mascot of the Republican Party and I didn’t want people reading things into my choice. I thought about choosing things like the Tasmanian devil, duckbilled platypus, sugar glider (cause I have one and she’s cool), or weedy sea dragon because they are exotic and interesting. In the end, I wanted something that could either fly, or that lived in the ocean, so I chose a dolphin. Dolphins are playful, therapeutic, friendly, intelligent, and social creatures that live in the tropics. I could handle that.”
SPORTS BG takes on Northern Illinois
After the Falcon’s first bye week of the season, the BG football team takes on Northern Illinois at home Tuesday night at 8 p.m. The game is being broadcasted on ESPN2 | Page 6
$100 of valuation will be taxed to Wood County residents. ■■ The money will go toward providing general maintenance and repair for area senior citizens’ facilities such as the county’s seven senior centers. ■■ The levy will support the over 60 services the Wood County Committee on Aging provides to the residents of Wood County. ■■ If approved, the levy will commence in 2011 with the first payment due in the calendar year of 2012.
YES OR NO?
A “yes” vote means approval of the tax levy. A “no” vote means disapproval of the tax levy. Information compiled from the Wood County Board of Election: www.co.wood.oh.us/BOE/index.html
PEOPLE ON THE STREET Are you voting? Why or why not? STEPHANIE KELLY Freshman, Marine Biology
“No, I never really got into political stuff.” | Page 4
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